Ice spud



Nov. 24, 1964 B. w. RUSSELL 3,158,215

ICE spun Filed April 16, 1962 III 38 32 jfi -INVENTOR. F63 BURTON M RL/ ELL BY (Hugo/v, BETTLE Gen/G ,qrromvfiyj United States Patent 3,158,215 ICE SPUD Burton W. Russell, Union Lake, Mich, assignor to Pontiac Speciaitiesi g. & Dist. Corp, a corporation of Michigan Filed Apr. 16, 1962, Ser. No. 187,838 6 Claims. (Cl. 175-398) This invention relates to an ice spud, and more particularly to an improved ice spud particularly adapted for cutting holes in the ice for ice fishing.

Conventionally, ice spuds have comprised an elongated handle having at the lower end thereof a wedge shaped element for chipping ice. When said conventional spuds are used for cutting a hole through the ice of a lake for ice fishing, they have possessed certain disadvantages. Firstly, as the spud is moved around the circumference of the hole in the chipping action, only the circumferential portion of the hole is cut, leaving a center portion of ice which must be separately broken up as the depth of the hole increases. hole tends to narrow down as the depth is increased. This results partly from the handle overlapping the sides of the wedgeshaped chipping element and contacting the sides of the hole during chipping, thus necessitating application of the wedge-shaped element at points spaced radially inwardly from the original circumference of the hole, resulting in the hole tunneling inwardly as the depth is increased. To overcome this deficiency, it has been necessary to apply the spud at an angle to the horizontal plane rather than in the desired straight up and down motion of the spud. Such angular application of the spud requires greater strength than upand down application and is disadvantageous for older men who may be physically incapable of utilizing a spud in such a fashion.

These problems are overcome by the present invention which provides an ice spud which both forms the side walls of the hole and breaks up the center ice portion in one operation and which forms a hole the diameter of which tends to increase, rather than decrease, as the depth of the hole is increased. It is an object of the invention to provide an ice spud incorporating a T-shaped ice cutting construction having one element for cutting the side walls of the hole and a second element for simultaneously breaking the center ice of the hole.

Another object of the invention is to provide a member for cutting the side walls of the hole, the cutting member having an outwardly directed camber at the cutting edge to thereby tend to enlarge the diameter of the hole as the hole increases in depth.

A further object of the invention is to provide an elongated handle for, the ice spud which is connected to the T-shaped portion in such arnanner as to result in a wellbalanced instrument in which the handle will not interfere with the cutting of the hole.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a retaining member for a safety rope on the upper end of the handle, the retaining member being configured to reduce its abrasive effects on the rope to thereby lengthen the service life of the rope.

Other objects of this invention will appear in the following description and appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts in the several views.

In the drawing:

FIGURE 1 is a view in perspective of the ice spud illustrating one embodiment of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is an end elevational view of the T-shaped Secondly, the

cutting member 'of FIGURE 1 rotated clockwise its application to the details of construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawing, since the invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be under-stood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation. I

Referring to the drawing, it may be seen that the ice spud 10 includes an elongated tubular handle 12. The handle 12 is preferably long enough so that the operator may use the-spud while standing in an upright position. A semi-circular ring 14 is secured to the upper end of the handle12. The ring 14 is engaged by a loop 16 of a safety rope 18. The other end of the rope 18 is secured to a stationary object or to the operator of the spud to prevent loss of the spud as a result of the operator inadvertently dropping the spud through the hole which is cut in the ice.

'Ihe spud is of relatively heavy construction and when the operator breaks through the lower surface of the ice, there is a tendency for the spud to slip out of the operators hand. In prior art spuds, such safety ropes have been provided. However, they have been secured to the spud handle by insertion through an opening provided in the handle member itself. It has not been economically feasible to smooth all the surfaces of such openings and, additionally, such openings necessarily have been limited in diameter in that they must be considerably smaller than the diameter of the handle. The result has been that the safety rope has frayed quite rapidly and this has necessitated frequent repair of the rope. As will be noted, the ring 14 has a diameter substantially as large as the diameter of the handle and thus does not bind the rope. Additionally, it is economically feasibleto provide a ring 14 with smooth surfaces to avoid chafing the rope.

The lower end 29 ofthe handle 12 is swedged toa reduced diameter and is provided with a notch 22 for the reception of a chipping element 24 which is secured to the handle as by welding. The chipping element 24 is a relatively fiat plate having the general shape of a parallelogram. -.The longitudinal axis of the handle 12 lies in the plane of the element 24, thus assuring application of forces applied to the handle along the plane of the chipping element 24-.

As will be noted,.the lower end 26 of the element 24 is wedge-shaped, providing a relatively sharp cutting edge 28 on the element 24. The edge 28 is inclined downwardly and terminates in a chipping point 32. i

A cutting element 34 is secured to the edge 36 of the element 24 as by welding. I As will be noted, the cutting element 34 is a plate-like element and is secured to the edge 36 along the longitudinal center forming a T-s-haped arrangement. a

The lower end 33 of the cutting element 34 is wedgeshaped, terminating in a cutting edge 38. As will be noted, both of the wedge surfaces 40 and 42 areinclined outwardly away from the plane of the cutting element 34 and thus away from the longitudinal axis of the handle 12. The surface portion 42 has only a slight camber, in one embodiment being only two and one-half degrees with respect to the plane of the element 34. This slight camber is, however, important in the invention.

It will be noted that the chipping point 32 of the a 3 chipping element 24 is located above the cutting edge 38 of the cutting element 34. This arrangement permits the edge 38 to strike the ice before the point 32 strikes the ice and thus the edge 38 controls the direction of the cut to thereby permit accurately cutting a hole in the ice.

Operation of the ice spud may best be understood by reference to FIGURE 3. The ice spud is illustrated after an opening 44 has been partially cut through the layer of ice 46, In cutting the opening 44, the spud 10 is moved up and down with the edge 38 of the cutting element 34 striking the ice at points along the periphery of the opening. When the edge 38 bites into the ice, the camber of the wedge-shaped lower end 33 of the cutting element will tend to make the cutting element cut the ice radially outwardly from the center of the opening 44. This results in the side walls 48 of the opening 44 being inclined outwardly from the center of the opening so as to enlarge the opening as the depth of the hole increases.

After the edge 38 has cut into the ice, the point 32 of the chipping element 24 will strike the ice adjacent the center of the opening. The chipping element 24 will, of course, break up the ice at the center of the opening. Additionally, the chipping element 24 fractures the ice radially as indicated by the lines 50. The fractures extend toward the side walls 418 of the opening, tending to break the ice adjacent the side walls and thus assist in the cutting action of the cutting element 34.

It will be noted that the handle 12 is offset from the cutting element 34. The handle 12 will thus not contact the side walls 48 of the opening 44 during formation of the opening. Such contact would force the application of the edge 38 of the cutting element 34 at points radially inwardly from the original periphery of the opening as the depth of the hole was increased and would result in decreasing the diameter of the hole as the depth of the hole was increased, The offsetting of the handle 12 from the cutting element 34 has the additional advantage of placing the handle nearer to the center of the elements 24, 34 to thus result in better balance of the spud.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. An ice spud for cutting a hole in a layer of ice comprising an elongated handle, a chipping element and a cutting element on the lower end of the handle, said cutting element having a cutting edge for striking and cutting the ice along the periphery of an opening to be cut in a layer of ice, said chipping element having a cutting edge inclined downwardly and laterally away from the cutting element and terminating in a chipping point spaced from the cutting element, said chipping point being in close proximity above the cutting edge and acting to strike and fracture the ice ata point within the periphery of the opening to be cut in the ice.

2. An ice spud for cutting a hole in a layer of ice comprising an elongated handle, a chipping element and a cutting element on the lower end of the handle, said cutting element having a. cutting edge for striking and cutting the ice along the periphery of an opening to be cut in a layer of ice, said chipping element having a cutting edge inclined downwardly and laterally away from the cutting element, the cutting edge of the chipping element terminating in a chipping point which is spaced above and laterally away from the cutting edge of the cutting element, said chipping point being in close proximity above'the cutting edge and acting to strike and fracture the ice after contact of the cutting edge of the cutting element with the ice and at a point within the periphery of the opening to be cut in the ice.

3.An ice spud for cutting a hole in a layer of ice comprising an elongated handle, a chipping element and a cutting element on the lower'end of the handle, said cutting element having a wedge-shaped lower end defined by a pair of converging surfaces, said surfaces having a point of convergence forming a cutting edge for striking and cutting the ice along the periphery of an opening to be cut in a layer of ice, each of said surfaces being inclined downwardly and away from the longitudinal axis of said handle resulting in said cutting element cutting the ice in a directon diverging'from a force applied along the longitudinal axis of the handle, said chipping element having a cutting edge inclined downwardly and away from the cutting element and terminating in a chipping point spaced from the cutting element, said chipping point striking and fracturing the ice at a point within the periphery of the opening to be cut inthe ice.

4. An ice spud forcutting a hole in a layer of ice comprising an elongated handle, a plate-like chipping element and a plate-like cutting element provided on the lower end of the handle, the planes of said plate-like elements being at substantially'right-angies to each other and substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the handle, said cutting element having a wedge-shaped lower end portion defined by apair of converging surfaces, said surfaces having a point of convergence forming a cutting edge for striking and cutting the ice along the periphery of an opening to be cut in a layer of ice, each of said surfaces being inclined downwardly and away from the longitudinal axis of said handle resulting in said cutting element cutting the ice in a direction diverging from a force applied along the longitudinal axis of the handle, said chipping element having a cutting edge inclined downwardly and away from the cutting element, the cutting edge of the chipping element terminating in a chipping point which is spaced above and laterally away from the cutting edge of the cutting element, said chipping point acting to strike and fracture the ice after contact of the cutting edge of the cutting element with the ice and at a point within the periphery of the opening to be cut in the ice.

5. A device as claimed in claim 4 and further characterized in that the elongated handle is spaced laterally away from the cutting element towards the chipping point of the chipping element.

6. A device as claimed in claim 4 and further characterized in the provision of a ring element on the upper end of the elongated handle for attachment of a safety rope to the ice spud.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES. PATENTS 121,223 Ward Nov. 21, 1871 492,053 Rogers et al. Feb. 21, 1893 715,385 Jones Dec. 9, 1902 1,041,605 Deininger Oct. 15, 1912 1,408,677 Zorn Mar. 7, 1922 1,471,062 Riblet-t Oct. 16, 1923 2,196,940 Potts Apr. 9, 1940 2,305,200 Sitton Dec. 15, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS 28,891 Austria June 25, 1907 

1. AN ICE SPUD FOR CUTTING A HOLE IN A LAYER OF ICE COMPRISING AN ELONGATED HANDLE, A CHIPPING ELEMENT AND A CUTTING ELEMENT ON THE LOWER END OF THE HANDLE, SAID CUTTING ELEMENT HAVING A CUTTING EDGE FOR STRIKING AND CUTTING THE ICE ALONG THE PERIPHERY OF AN OPENING TO BE CUT IN A LAYER OF ICE, SAID CHIPPING ELEMENT HAVING A CUTTING EDGE INCLINED DOWNWARDLY AND LATERALLY AWAY FROM THE CUTTING ELEMENT AND TERMINATING IN A CHIPPING POINT SPACED FROM THE CUTTING ELEMENT, SAID CHIPPING POINT BEING IN CLOSE PROXIMITY ABOVE THE CUTTING EDGE AND ACTING TO STRIKE AND FRACTURE THE ICE AT A POINT WITHIN THE PERIPHERY OF THE OPENING TO BE CUT IN THE ICE. 